Various chemical compounds have been used for regulation of the growth of plants with a chemical substance, so called for the purpose of "chemical control" of the plant-growth. For example, maleic hydrazide (MH), N,N-dimethylaminosuccinic amide (known as Daminozide or B-Nine) and 2-chloroethyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (known as Chlormequat or CCC) have been employed for retardation of plant-growth, for control of emergence of sideshooting or for prevention of lodging of plants. These known compounds, however, have various drawbacks that their uses are restricted in respect of the locus, plants and time which can effectively be treated with them, that their plant-growth regulating effects are insufficient or unstable, that they are phytotoxic, and/or that they are too expensive.
We have made extensive studies in an attempt to provide new plant-growth regulators which are free from the aforementioned drawbacks of the known plant-growth regulators. As a result, we have now found that certain new cyclohexane derivatives which we have now newly synthetized exhibit some remarkable plant-growth regulating effects and are free from the drawbacks as described above.